Bishop Athanasius Schneider will make his first visit to the Diocese of Charlotte, North Carolina later this week to offer a Solemn Pontifical Mass in honor of Blessed Karl of Austria. As reported by the Catholic News Herald:

The Charlotte Latin Mass Community and St. Ann Parish in Charlotte will host Bishop Athanasius Schneider, ORC, for a special Pontifical Latin Mass (Mass in the Extraordinary Form) at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 26. Bishop Schneider is the auxiliary bishop of Astana, Kazakhstan, and one of the foremost defenders of the faith in the Church today.

He will preach on the doctrine of the Kingship of Christ. A Pontifical Mass in the Extraordinary Form is one offered by a bishop or a cardinal, and will be only the second Pontifical Latin Mass offered in the Diocese of Charlotte, the first in over thirty years. All are welcome to attend this historic event.

A reception will follow in the parish’s Allen Center. St. Ann Church is located at 3635 Park Road in Charlotte.

No, it has declined by 33% (not half) as far as official Catholic Bishops Directory statistics can provide. You relate only part of the story. The Catholic Church is being squeezed out of Kazakhstan by the Muslim fundamentalists on the one front and the Orthodox on the other front.

The other story is that their vocations to the priesthood have risen by 50% (2004-2013). Then too their vocations to religious life (male and female cumulatively) have risen by 15% in that same time period.

Just because Hugh doesn’t like Bishop Schneider is no reason to dismiss the real spiritual successes in the Diocese of Asana. Perhaps we should compare Bishop Schneider’s diocese vocations success to your favorite progressive bishop? You probably shouldn’t go there.

Fr. Kloster addressed your statistical errors. As for sinful man’s tendency to abandon the gospel truth when presented with it (as has apparently happened in Astana, Kazakhstan), I direct you to John 6:66.